TIMELINE

13000 B.C. – First sign of inhabitance in the region around the Amazon River and Jungle.

7000 B.C. – Two types of tribes begin to inhabit Brazil. The natives that followed the Humaitá tradition and lived in the deep forests. Second, the natives that followed the Sambaqui tradition and lived along the coast.

3000 B.C. – The tribes slowly start to stray away from the Hunter-gatherer way of life and begin to make use of domesticated and non-domesticated plants such as Maize.

1500 – The Portuguese arrive in Brazil under the command of Pedro Alvares Cabral, who claimed this new land as his own.

1540-1640: The Rise of Brazil as a force in the Sugar economy.

1549 – Brazil becomes a Portuguese royal province, under the control of a governor general.

1562-1563 – smallpox, measles and the flu struck the local people, annihilating huge proportions of their population numbers. This was followed by a famine. The locals were desperate for food and any sort of income, which led them to sell themselves as slaves, rather than to die of starvation.

1654 – Brazilian red dye was the main natural resource the Europeans seeked and traded as it would help make textiles and clothing. Thus after constant battle the Dutch are finally driven from Brazil by the Portuguese, who once again claim ownership.

1750 – Portugal signs a Treaty with Spain to divide and carve up South America between the two.

1801-1819 – King Dom João VI decides to relocate the royal family to Brazil and decide to rule Brazil and the European homeland from Rio De Janeiro. His son Dom Pedro soon was given authority by his father to rule and govern in the king’s place in the event of his leaving or his death.

1820 – A Constitutional Revolution occurs in Portugal. It set up the First Assembly meeting and the first constitution of the Kingdom. It also demanded that the king must return to Portugal, which left Dom Pedro to govern Brazil.

1822 – After constant turbulence and difference in perspectives, Dom Pedro breaks all ties with Portugal and his father (the king) and declares Brazil’s independence with this powerful quote “Hail to the independence, to freedom and to the separation of Brazil. For my blood, my honour, my God, I swear to give Brazil freedom. Independence or death!” Three months later he was crowned Emperor.

1828 – After a long battle, Uruguay defeats the Brazilian Army to gain its independence.

1850 – Brazil who historically were the second largest importer of slaves in the world, finally ban the slave trade.

1888 – The Emperor Pedro II frees all the remaining slaves from Brazil without compensating the owners.

1889 – A military coup led by General Deodoro da Fonseca removes the Emperor. Brazil would then declare itself a Republic with General Fonseca as its leader.

1894 – The first peaceful transition of power in Brazil’s history. As Brazil welcomed its first civilian president, Prudente de Morais, is peacefully elected, setting the pattern for the next four decades.

Before the end of the 1800’s – Coffee overtook Sugar as Brazil’s main export. Its introduction brought in new investors and interest from the world, it expanded the labor force and the industries expanded as Brazil began to rise as a force in the World Economy.

1917 – Brazil declares war on Germany and enters World War 1.

1929 – Just like the rest of the world, Brazil’s economy hits a road block as the Great Depression deteriorates the World Economy and stagnates trade.

1930 –Getulio Vargas leads a military coup and is elected the president of Brazil by military officials.

1945 – Ironically, a military coup removes Vargas from power.

1945-1946 – Brazil joins the United Nations and drafts its new constitution that protects the individuals’ rights.

1964 – Brazil officially moves its capital from Rio De Janeiro to Brasilia.

1964-1985 – The Brazilian government would go under the control of the military.

1985 – Brazil returns to civilian rule as the country elects a new president and Vice-President.

1988 – The Constituent Assembly meets and grants more individual rights for the people of Brazil under the constitution.

1998 – After slight economic recovery, a second sudden collapse of the economy in the span of 10 years.

2002 – Brazil wins its 5th FIFA World Cup for Soccer. The most by any nation in history.

2008 – Brazil joins “BRICS”, an association of the five major emerging national economies.

2005-2010 – Political stability opens the door to unprecedented economic growth that cultivated in 2010 with an economic gain of 7.5% by the end of the year making it “the highest growth rate in twenty-five years.”

2011 – Brazil elects its first woman president, Dilma Rousseff.

2014 – Brazil hosts the 19th FIFA World Cup for Soccer. Their first time hosting the event since 1950.